Unsettled financial transactions due to a disorganized revenue cycle is perhaps one of the greatest challenges faced by dental practices today. Issues like heavy staff attritions and unproductive processes, leading to revenue loss, have further highlighted the importance of optimizing financial workflows in the dental practices. This has eventually led many dental practices organizations to realizing outsourcing revenue cycle management to be the best move for their long-term financial success.
An outsourced RCM service not only takes away the stress of day-to-day billing responsibilities, but also eliminates the need to hire dedicated billing and claims professionals, making it a very cost-efficient option and an attractive idea to even the most budget conscious practices.
Why is Choosing the RCM Partner Crucial?
Choosing the right partner for your RCM needs is an essential part of the process of establishing a successful and profitable business. An experienced RCM partner can provide you with the expertise, resources, and technology to maximize the efficiency of your practice. Having a knowledgeable and reliable partner on your side can help you to save time, money, and energy in the long-term when it comes to managing your RCM. In addition, a trusted partner can help you to ensure that your RCM processes are compliant with the applicable regulations and laws, as well as provide you with valuable insights and advice that can help to improve the overall efficiency and profitability of your dental practice. With the right partner in place, the dentists can rest assured that their financial operations are running smoothly and that they are getting the most out of their investments.
This brings us to the question: How to choose the best among the many RCM Service Providers in the Industry?
It helps considering the following factors while determining the best RCM solution for your organization:
- Cost:
Selecting a sensibly-priced RCM service provider is vital for a practice, especially if the practice is a small one with budget constraints. Investing in an expensive RCM service provider is not a wise option is the practice is trying to optimize its financial workflows. While choosing an RCM service Provider, it is crucial to assess the cost to collect which will regulate the returns on the investment. As long as the vendor is able to enhance collections and improve the revenue flow, the return on investment will cover the vendor cost. - Turn-around Time:
The amount of time taken to deal with payers and stakeholders is very crucial to the success of any RCM or billing department. It only makes sense for a practice to partner with an RCM service provider that has demonstrated superiority in carrying out RCM functions with a fast turn-around time. The quicker an RCM service provider works, the faster a practice gets reimbursed for their services. The turn-around time significantly impacts the practice’s cash flow. - Reporting:
Reporting is very vital to revenue cycle management. Hence, an RCM Service provider should provide the practice, reports on all aspects of the process, on a frequent basis. This helps in keeping the third-party vendor accountable for the work they’ve undertaken, in addition to providing valuable information for the practice to measure and evaluate its financial and billing progress. - Quality Customer Support:
Just like one would expect from any vendor, quality customer support is very crucial for the overall satisfaction from the service provided. The best way to assess the quality of support provided by the vendor is to refer to the reviews left online by their existing users for an accurate feedback. It is also important to consider having a brief call with the prospects to discuss the options available and determine the most effective way to manage the practice’s RCM so more time could be spent on more important aspects of the practice, such as providing better care to patients. - Overall Expertise:
While looking to outsource a core function of the practice, such as revenue cycle management, it becomes crucial to finding an RCM service provider that holds expertise in handling a wide range of functions and the related issues. It is best recommended to hire an experienced RCM service provider that has a thorough knowledge of the service the practice is seeking.
Once a practice is clear on its requirement from the RCM service provider and has its options narrowed down, it becomes easier to choose the right vendor. By partnering with the right RCM service provider, the dentists have the opportunity to optimize its practice and support the staff. The ideal vendor would help improve the practice’s profitability, reduce its administrative workload, and adapt seamlessly to the industry changes and facilitate growth.
